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South Korean company has agreed to fund the development of a waste water installation that will be managed by the Batam Free Trade Zone Body (BP FTZ).

The project, which is worth Rp 387 billion (US$29.1 million), started last week and is targeted for completion by mid 2019.

The installation will be built on a 7 hectare plot of land in Bengkong Sadai district and is expected to manage 11,000 pipe connections, which would turn household waste into clean water within a certain quality standard. The water will then be channeled to the ocean and to dams in Batam.

The Development of Sewage System in Batam was carried out by Hansol EME Co. Ltd. on a soft loan scheme from the country.

Robert M. Sianipar, deputy for facilities of BP FTZ, said Tuesday that this project was an implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, which are now called the Sustainable Development Goals. One of the goals is to provide clean water and proper sanitation.

“The sewage system in Batam is a priority because the population has increased to 1.2 million, and clean water sourced from the dams in Batam has become contaminated with household waste,” Robert said.

The BP FTZ has been carrying out efforts since 2011 to build the installation with a capacity to produce 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.

“This is the first installation built here to process waste,” he said.

In 2015, the project was approved by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas). The approval was then followed by making the Detailed Engineering Design (DED). The construction started this Thursday.

“We trust this development to the Korean contractor because the company has the appropriate technology and human resources and is able to build the installation in a minimal area,” he said, adding that this would be one of seven installations in Batam that is connected to 114 kilometers of pipes.

“The waste water that has been processed will flow out and will become a new source of clean water. We are also trying to process it further to be drinking water.”

Mechanical Manager Hansol EME Co. Ltd. Kim Sang-chun said this was the company’s first project in Indonesia, but the company had been conducting similar projects across Africa and other Asian countries.

“We have new technology for the Batam project, with smaller land use and now everyone can operate the system, very easy,” said Kim in a meeting with BP FTZ Batam.

Head of Clean Water Installation of BP FTZ, Binsar Tambunan, said the installation currently operating in Batam was only able to process 230 cubic meters of waste water per day.

“The technology we have been using is also conventional, which requires big plots of land.”

He said BP FTZ was currently seeking investors to fund six other waste water processing installation projects.